Inaugural winner Susanna Matters joined the 2014 winners and runners-up at the event, which was also attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, Speaker of the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop, and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Peta Credlin. Julie Bishop and Peta Credlin were recently named on The Weekly‘s first annual Power List.
In his address, Mr Abbott acknowledged that, as the father of three daughters, he wants women in particular to have the best opportunities to achieve in the professional arena, and thanked The Weekly for highlighting the inspiring work of the winners.
“I am very conscious of the incredibly powerful women in my professional life and I want to see more powerful women in our public life, in our national life and in the lives of everyone, because we will all be so much better if that happens,” he said.
Mr Abbott also paid tribute to the 2014 winners – the Judges’ Choice winner, Laura O’Reilly, and the People’s Choice winner, Annabelle Chauncy – crediting them as role models and leaders within the community. “Both of you have shown dedication, commitment, drive, grit and guts. You’ve also shown incredible selflessness to dedicate years of your life to helping others,” Mr Abbott said.
The Weekly‘s Editor-in-Chief, Helen McCabe, highlighted the work being done by the winners, both in Australia and overseas, as well as the calibre of young women the competition has uncovered. “The quality of entrants is humbling, and we will continue to celebrate these women,” she said.
Since being named as a 2014 winner, Laura O’Reilly, the co-founder and CEO of Fighting Chance, an organisation working to provide job opportunities for people with a disability, has been inundated with enquiries, as well as new clients, and this has allowed her and her team to build their not-for-profit enterprise.
“Often when you’re doing this sort of work you can feel like you’re pushing a boulder up a hill, but events like today really make you feel like the community is supporting you and that people want these sort of ventures to succeed to make Australia better. It really motivates me to work ten times harder,” she said.
Now in its second year, The Australian Women’s Weekly/Qantas Women of the Future Award aims to celebrate the talent and entrepreneurship of young women in Australia who are building the nation’s future through their smart and inspirational ideas.
